Sample Midterm--CS 4001

What are the two formulations of the categorical imperative? (10 points)

What are "logos," "ethos," and "pathos"? (10 points)

Describe the Supreme Court case Katz versus the United States. Who
was Katz and what was he accused of? What did the Supreme Court rule,
and why is this decision important? (15 points)

A.
How is a free market approach to privacy different from a consumer
protection approach? What are the arguments in favor of each? (10 points)

B.
Suppose that "Java du Jour," a chain of cafes with free wireless
access, is monitoring unencrypted traffic over its network to find
email addresses. Addresses found are added to their mailing list, and
also given to the cafe's "corporate partners" for their mailing lists.
They are mining not only the addresses of customers, but everyone who
customers send email to--anything that looks like an email address
that goes over their LAN, for any customer not encrypting their
communications. The fact that they might do something like this is on
page five of the seven-page click-to-accept license you must click
every time you first log on at the cafe. Analyze the situation from
both consumer protection and free market approaches to privacy. What
responses if any would each approach suggest? (15 points)

You work for a small software company that has been hired to write
software for a chain of cafes, Java du Jour. The customer would like
you to write code to gather all email addresses sent unencrypted over
its wireless LAN (as described in the previous problem). Is writing
the software ethical? What might someone in this situation do?
Analyze the problem from act utilitarian, rule utilitarian,
deontological, and feminine ethics points of view. Also refer to the
ACM and software engineering codes of professional practice. (Copies
provided with your exam.) (40 points)